Monday, February 8, 2010

Todd Brown and the Glaring Insanity Of Our Nation


It's becoming more and more apparent that there is an insidious mental disease gripping our nation. On the weekend that saw America transfixed on the Super Bowl footbal game, the grieving parents of 14 year-old Todd Brown tried to make some sense out of the senslessness of his murder inside a middle school in Alabama. Shot dead while changing classes by another 14 year-old.

As we become more and more obsessed with all things media; from football games to reality shows to sharing crass pictures of ourselves on the social networking sites, more and more children are committing murder right in front of us in real-time. Only we are so clouded and absorbed with the pursuit of all things trivial and care only about self-gratification, that we either don't pay any attention or worse, just don't care. Like someone commented on a blog when a kid got shot once: "As long as it is black kids killing other black kids, who the hell cares".

It seems that we Americans have lost our collective minds. We drool over any of the latest salacious gossip spat out by the network news, but barely raise an eyebrow over the increase in kids incarcerated in our prisons. Instead of setting a good example for our young, impressionable children, we adults, for the most part, act just as childish as they do. We've become obsessed with looking and staying young and cool. Instead of allowing ourselves to age gracefully, we chase the many "fountain of youth" products advertised so we can feel good about who we are. So when we look in the mirror, we only see the things we want to see; not the person, but the mask.

Our children aren't stupid. They see the void in leadership and they see the fewer and fewer mature adult role models out here. And this is probably why they are acting out--because they know that what we are experiencing today in this country is not natural. And our kids are crying out for help in basically the only way they know how--acting out. While adults anesthesize themselves with drugs and porn, our kids are doing the same thing with T.V. and video games. They rarely play outside anymore and this is a big reason why Michelle Obama is spearheading a "Fight Child Obesity" campaign. But where is the national "Fight Youth Violence" campaign? Isn't this just as important as child obesity?

The bottom line is we have failed our young children and are too blinded by the arrogant "culture of me" to even notice it. But all is not lost. More and more I am seeing adults waking from their stupor, realizing what's happening and fighting back. And that gives me hope. For as long as there is hope, there can be change.

Teen shot at Ala. middle school dies; student held

MADISON, Ala. -- A ninth-grader was shot by another student during a class change at a north Alabama middle school Friday has died at a hospital, officials said.Todd Brown, 14, was shot about 1:45 p.m. and taken by ambulance from Discovery Middle School to Huntsville Hospital, where he died, said hospital spokeswoman Kristen Bishop. She wouldn't release any other details. The suspected shooter was arrested inside in the school, where police are regularly stationed. Police did not release the name of the alleged shooter, also a ninth-grader at the school, citing their ongoing investigation. No one else was injured, school officials said. It wasn't immediately clear what prompted the gunfire.

"This was a singular incident," said Dee Fowler, the city school superintendent. He said churches are working with the school system to offer counseling throughout the weekend and counselors will be at the campus Monday They said a 14-year-old suspect taken into custody by a resource officer at Discovery Middle School will be charged with murder. The newspaper said the suspect is being held at the Neaves-Davis Center for Children, the juvenile detention center in Huntsville. Witnesses told the Times the suspect fatally shot Brown during a Friday afternoon class change.


1 comment:

  1. This article is an indictment of a truth that won't go away by verbally protesting about it.A more pervasive concept is the lack of accountabilty and responsibilty in our community that goes beyond incarceration.The author speaks about an unhealthy alliance of narcisstic and apathetic behavior.There is dialogue of the wearing of "masks"that the writer Franz Fanon addressed years earlier.The under developed relationship we have of ourselves which can be called the lack of self-esteem permeates right through the core of who we say we are. We try so hard to be anyone or anything other than ourselves.The writer did focus on that aspect of what the problem is. The root of what it is I believe goes deeper than that much deeper.The children are gravitating to non-verbal answers to the conflicts that they endure on a daily basis.Our children today do not know how to artculate their anguish or their pain in a way where it is understandable beyond the realm of themselves.Yeah!! they act out, but historically all children act out!!It's how they act out.Whenever there is radical change of a society it comes from the youth not the adults and they had an ablility to articulate their purposes whether society agreed or not.This generation articulates barbarism towards each other.There are young voices out there stretching the boundaries of what is defined as a civilized society.They are not promoted enough.there is fault that lies with what we created but all we created is not bad!! We make movies that tell a story about hope but these are not the stories that are promoted.Mos Def played the real live role of an apprentice who worked his way through med school and his research reshaped the medical science field as well as Dr. Ben Carson.The movie the Great Debaters was minimally promoted. but games like Grand Auto Theft are forced down our collective throats that glorifies resolving conflicts with violence.We have to begin to make those people accountable our children have to be held to a higher accountability other than incarceration. Allow these children to see the effects of misery that they cause others on a daily basis, let them be saturated with the pain they have caused to others until they say Enough!!

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